Graphical user interface for a portable telephone

ABSTRACT

A portable telephone provides a graphical user interface (GUI) using a high-resolution display. The GUI provides a Universal Mailbox for storing both electronic mail and voicemail messages, either of which can be accessed by a user from the same display screen. An automatic reply feature allows a user to initiate an outgoing reply to a received message with the touch of a button. For a reply to a voicemail message, the GUI accesses Caller ID information to automatically identify and dial out to the phone number of the sender of the original message. For an electronic mail reply, the GUI automatically displays a reply form addressed to the source address. Reply forms may be generic, custom designed for a specific source address, or provided by the sender. An advanced call control feature automatically checks an outgoing telephone number against a database to determine whether the phone number is currently appropriate. Alternative or more appropriate phone numbers may be retrieved from the database and suggested to the user. An animated call duration indicator indicates the length of telephone calls. A ticker-tape display automatically displays scrolled text messages according to the context of what the user is doing.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention pertains to the field of portable communicationdevices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a userinterface for a portable, hand-held telephone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Cellular telephones are widely used and are becoming increasingly morecommonplace in society. As the state of the art in cellular telephonesadvances, there is a trend toward incorporating more features and moreadvanced functions into the devices. Unfortunately, while incorporatingmore functions into these devices can make them more versatile, it canalso make them more difficult to use for many users due to the addedcomplexity. Many users dislike learning to use electronic devices withmany functions or do not have the time to do so. Accordingly, there is aneed in the art for a portable cellular telephone which is capable ofperforming a wide variety of functions and which can be operated usingan intuitive, easy-to-use user interface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is a portable telephone, whichincludes a transceiver for transmitting and receiving data, a displaydevice, and control circuitry coupled to the transceiver and the displaydevice. The control circuitry is configured to enable the portabletelephone to send and receive electronic mail messages and voicemessages. The control circuitry is also configured to cause a graphicaluser interface to be displayed, which allows the user to access bothstored electronic mail messages and voice messages from the singledisplay screen.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method of allowing a userto reply to a stored message. A user input selecting the message isreceived. In response to the user input, an appropriate reply mode isautomatically entered based on the source of the message.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method of processingoutgoing calls in a wireless handheld telephone communication device.User inputs specifying a destination telephone number are received forthe purpose of initiating an outgoing call. In response to the userinputs, the destination telephone number is automatically referencedagainst a database to determine whether the destination telephone numberis currently appropriate.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method of conveying currentcall information to a user in a portable telephone communication device.The communication device includes a display device. In accordance withthe method, an animated indication of the duration of a telephone callis displayed on the display device.

Another aspect of the present invention is a wireless portable telephonecomprising control circuitry, a transceiver coupled to the controlcircuitry for transmitting and receiving data over a wireless medium,and a display coupled to the control circuitry. The control circuitry isconfigured to automatically cause information to be scrolled across thedisplay.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method, in a portabletelephone, of allowing a user to transmit a message. In the method,previously requested data is received from a remote source. Informationthat is representative of the data is displayed on the display device.In response to a user input initiating a transmission mode, a form for amessage to be transmitted is automatically selected based on the contentof the displayed information at the time the user input is received.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method of allowing a userto transmit a message in a portable telephone in which data is receivedfrom a remote source. The content of the data is monitored for apredetermined content and when the predetermined content is detected, amode is automatically entered to allow the user to transmit a messagefrom the telephone.

Other features of the present invention will be apparent from theaccompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a portable telephone in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the internal components of the portabletelephone of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A illustrates a main menu screen of the portable telephone of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3B is a diagram illustrating functional relationships between thevarious modes of the portable telephone.

FIG. 4 illustrates a Universal Mailbox screen of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a screen showing an electronic mail message.

FIG. 6 illustrates a screen for selecting a reply to an electronic mailmessage in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates a screen displaying an advanced call control message.

FIG. 8 illustrates a News & Info screen for accessing third partyinformation.

FIG. 9 illustrates a screen displaying third party information.

FIG. 10 illustrates a screen displaying third party information inaddition to locally stored information and ticker-tape information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A portable telephone having an intuitive graphical user interface isdescribed. In the following description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be evident, however, toone skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram or other symbolic formin order to facilitate description of the present invention.

Overview

The present invention includes a portable telephone that provides anadvanced yet easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) using ahigh-resolution display. FIG. 1 illustrates a portable, wirelesstelephone in accordance with the present invention. In one embodiment,the telephone 1 is a cellular telephone, which may be conventionalexcept as provided otherwise in this description. The telephone 1includes an earpiece 2 for outputting sound, a mouthpiece 3 forinputting sound, and a high-resolution display 4. As will be describedbelow, the display 4 is used to present the GUI to the user of thetelephone 1, using which the user can control all significant functionsof the telephone. In one embodiment, the display 4 is a bit-mapped,gray-scale screen having a resolution of approximately 160×240 pixels atapproximately 102 pixels per inch. The display 4 can be a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD) or any other suitable type of display device. The phone 1also includes a keypad 14, which includes standard alphanumeric keys,such as are found on many conventional telephones, and an extendibleantenna 15 for transmitting and receiving data over a wireless (e.g.,cellular) connection. The telephone 1 also includes various othercontrols, some of which are used with the features to be describedbelow. In particular, the telephone 1 includes Select buttons 5 and 6, aScroll Up button 7, a Scroll Down button 8, a Back button 9, a Messagesbutton 10, a Send button 11, a Volume/Scroll Up/Down button 12, and anEnd button 13.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the internal components of thepresent invention. Note that the diagram of FIG. 2 is intended to be aconceptual diagram and does not necessarily reflect the exact physicalconstruction and interconnections of these components. As shown in FIG.2, the telephone 1 includes processing and control circuitry 20, whichcontrols the overall operation of the telephone. Coupled to theprocessing and control circuitry 20 are the display 4, memory 21, atransceiver 22, and inputs 23, a speaker 23, and a microphone 24. Thespeaker 23 is used to generate sound, which is output through theearpiece 2. The microphone 24 is used to receive sound through themouthpiece 3. The transceiver 22, which is also coupled to the antenna15, is used to transmit and receive (via antenna 15) data, includingaudio data and various other types of data (the nature of which will bedescribed below). Note that in alternative embodiments, the transceiver22 may be physically embodied as a separate transmitter and receiver.Inputs 23 represent buttons 5 through 14, in aggregate.

The processing and control circuitry 20 may include one or more ofdevices such as general-purpose microprocessors, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs),various types of signal conditioning circuitry, includinganalog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, input/outputbuffers, etc.

The memory 21 may include one or more physical memory devices, which mayinclude volatile storage devices, non-volatile storage devices, or both.For example, memory 21 may include both random access memory (RAM),read-only memory (ROM), various forms of programmable and/or erasableROM (e.g., PROM, EPOM, EEPROM, etc.), flash memory, or any combinationof such devices.

The present invention includes steps which, in various embodiments, maybe carried out by elements of the processing and control circuitry 20(e.g., a microprocessor or a DSP) executing sequences of instructions.The instructions may be stored in a memory, such as memory 21. Softwareinstructions (or data) may be loaded into the portable telephone 1 fromanother device, such as a remote computer system, over the wirelessconnection. In various embodiments, downloaded software instructions maybe directly supported by the telephone 1, in which case execution of theinstructions may be performed directly upon their being received. Inother cases, downloaded instructions may not be directly executable bythe telephone 1. Under these circumstances, the instructions may beexecuted using an interpreter, which interprets the instructions, or byotherwise executing instructions which convert the received instructionsto instructions that can be directly executed.

Certain embodiments of the present invention may be carried out byhard-wired circuitry, rather than by executing software, or by acombination of hard-wired circuitry with software. Hence, it will berecognized that the present invention is not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software, nor to any particularsource for software instructions.

Nonetheless, to facilitate description it is henceforth assumed thataspects of the present invention are generally carried out through theexecution of software instructions in the telephone 1. It is envisionedthat these instructions may be written in the Java™ programming language(hereinafter “Java”) and, more specifically, in the PersonalJava™ subsetof Java (hereinafter “Personal Java”), both developed by SunMicrosystems, Inc., of Palo Alto, Calif. Note, however, that otherlanguages may be substituted within the scope of the present invention.As is well-known, Personal Java is a Java application environmentdesigned specifically for network-connectable applications on consumerdevices. The details of developing software in Java and Personal Javaare well-known to those skilled in the relevant art and are not requiredfor an understanding of the present invention. Accordingly, such detailsare not provided herein.

The use of Java has a number of advantages, including allowing the GUIto be hardware-independent. Moreover, various features and functionsdescribed herein can be added to the portable telephone 1 at virtuallyany time after the product is manufactured or purchased by simplydownloading the appropriate instructions to the telephone 1 over thewireless connection.

The features of the GUI of the portable telephone 1 will now bedescribed. Briefly, the GUI includes a “universal mailbox”, which storesboth electronic mail (e-mail) and voicemail messages in a commonrepository, and which allows the user to access both types of messagesthrough a single display mode. An automatic reply (“auto-reply”) featureallows a user to automatically initiate a reply to either an e-mailmessage or a voicemail message with the touch of a button. An “advancedcall control” feature automatically intercepts outgoing phone callsbefore they are completed, determines whether the dialed phone number isvalid for the current time and date, and suggests alternative phonenumbers when appropriate. A “ticker-tape” display automatically scrollsinformation across the display 4, the content of which is automaticallyselected based on context. An animated call duration indicator indicatesthe duration of the current phone call. Other features will becomeapparent from the description which follows.

FIG. 3A illustrates the main menu screen of the GUI, according to oneembodiment. This screen appears automatically after power-up, and theuser can return to it at any time by pressing the End button 2. From themain menu screen, the user can access various functions provided by thetelephone, including speed dial, e-mail and voicemail messages, anaddress book, news and information, and configuration settings. Aselection bar 34 indicates the user's current selection. The main menuscreen includes a ticker-tape display field 32, in which various typesof information are scrolled horizontally. In the main menu screen, thecontent of this information is dependent upon the user's currentselection. For example, if the category “Messages” is selected, as shownin FIG. 3A, a listing of the senders of all unread messages will bescrolled horizontally through the ticker-tape display 32. For e-mailmessages, the subject line of the messages will also be displayed. Ifthe category “News & Info” is selected, a summary of news or otherinformation contained in that category can be scrolled across thedisplay 32. The information displayed in display 32 can be made toscroll repeatedly until the user selects a different function. Otheruses of the ticker-tape display 32 will be described below.

The main menu screen also includes an animated call duration indicator31. In one embodiment, the indicator 31 has the appearance of an analogclock. In one embodiment, the “face” of the clock 31 appears to becomeprogressively shaded with color as a telephone call takes place toindicate the duration of the call. Specifically, color shading is addedto the face of the clock 31 radially, and in a clockwise direction, asthe minute hand (or second hand) moves around the face of the clock.Color shading appears to sweep around the face of the clock 31 in aradial arc from the point on the clock which represents the time atwhich the call began. Hence, shading is added so as to give theappearance that the shading is actually being “applied” by the sweepingminute hand (or the second hand).

The main menu screen further includes a Sleep “soft button” 35 and a Gosoft button 36. By selecting the Sleep soft button 35, the user cancause the display 4 to enter a sleep mode. By selecting the Go softbutton 36, the user can go to the current selection from the menuscreen.

The functions of the controls described in FIG. 1 will now be described.Select buttons 5 and 6 are used to select soft buttons which may appeardirectly above them on the display 4 in certain modes. For example,referring again to FIG. 3A, button 5 is used to select the Sleep softbutton 35, and button 6 is used to select the Go soft button 36. Scrollbuttons 7 and 8 are used to move a current selection up or down, forexample to move selection bar 34 between the different categories. Backbutton 9 is used to access the previously displayed screen. Messagesbutton 10 is used to directly access the universal mailbox. Button 12 isused to adjust the volume up or down or to scroll the current selectionup or down, depending upon the mode in which the telephone is operating(i.e., depending upon whether there is an active telephone connection).Send button 11 functions as a standard Send button such as found on manyconventional cellular telephones. In addition, Send button 11 is used todispatch an e-mail message or to initiate the auto-reply function(described below). End button 13 is used to access the main menu screen,as noted above, or to end a telephone call.

FIG. 3B illustrates the functional relationships between the differentmodes/functions that a user can access using the GUI of the presentinvention. On power-up, the user initially encounters the main menuscreen 40. From the main menu screen 40, the user can directly accessspeed dial mode 41, messages mode 42, address book mode 52, news andinformation mode 46, or settings mode 53. From the speed dial mode 41,the user can initiate telephone calls using previously-set speed dialnumbers. The user can also dial any previously stored phone numbers 45or access a redial function 43 to redial the most recently dialed phonenumber. By selecting the messages mode 42, the user is taken to theuniversal mailbox 44, which displays all stored e-mail and voicemailmessages. The news and info mode 46 allows the user to accessinformation received from a remote source over the wireless connection.The information accessible under the news and information category 46,which may be referred to as “third party” information, containsinformation on various topics, which may be user-specified. In theillustrated embodiment, the third party information includes informationon the stock market 47, current traffic conditions 48, current weatherconditions 49, current headlines 50, as well as games 51. Note that theparticular types of information stored in this category can be easilyvaried within the scope of the present invention. This information canbe acquired by the portable telephone 1 in response to a specific userinput, automatically at predetermined times or intervals, or wheneverthe transmitting source transmits the information.

The features of the present invention are described now in greaterdetail with reference to FIGS. 4 through 10. These features aredescribed primarily in terms of the outputs that are perceivable to theuser. The precise manner in which these functions are implemented, or“coded”, is not important for an understanding of the present invention.Many implementations are possible within the scope of the presentinvention, and such implementations will be readily appreciated fromthis description by one skilled in the relevant art.

Universal Mailbox

Referring now to FIG. 4, the universal mailbox screen is illustrated. Asnoted above, the universal mailbox feature causes both e-mail andvoicemail messages to be displayed to the user using a single displaymode; thus, both e-mail messages and voicemail messages can be viewedsimultaneously from the same display screen, which can be scrolled, ifnecessary, to view a large number of messages. Each message is listed bythe name of its sender, and the time and date of receipt. In addition,e-mail messages include the subject line of the message. E-mail messagesare further distinguished by a letter-shaped icon to the left of thesender's name, while voicemail messages are identified by a telephonehandset icon to the left the sender's name. The time and date for eachfunction can be set to be absolute or relative.

A user can read an e-mail message on the display 4 or listen to avoicemail message by selecting the message from the list and thenpressing the Play button 37. When the user selects a message, thesender's address (in the case of an e-mail message) or telephone number(in the case of a voicemail message) appears in the ticker-tape display32, although the information is not scrolled in that case. For an e-mailmessage, the e-mail message (or the portion of it which will fit in thedisplay screen 4) is displayed, as shown in FIG. 5.

Auto-Reply

The auto-reply function enables the user to generate a meaningful andquick reply to any message, regardless of whether it is an e-mailmessage or a voicemail message. If any message is currently selected andthe user presses the Send button 11, the system will automatically enteran appropriate reply mode. More specifically, if the selected message isa voicemail message, the system will dial out using the telephone numberof the sender of the message. Conventional Caller ID information, suchas provided by many telephone services, can be used to ascertain thetelephone number of the original sender. Also, the name of the originalsender may be looked up in an electronic rolodex (which may or may notbe stored within the telephone 1) using the Caller ID information anddisplayed to the user.

If, on the other hand, the selected message is an e-mail message, thesystem will automatically display a reply form addressed to the addressof the sender when the Send button 11 is pressed. The user may thenenter appropriate text using the alphanumeric keypad 14. To dispatch thee-mail message, the user presses the Send button 11 again.

In one embodiment, when a user wishes to reply to an e-mail message, thesystem presents a menu of options for reply forms. These reply forms maybe standard for the system (generic) or customized. As shown in FIG. 6,a standard template of reply forms may include generic replies such as“Yes”, “No”, or “Call Me”. Furthermore, a sender may explicitly providea template including one or more reply forms. For example, a sender whois a stockbroker might send a template with the replies “Buy Company X”,“Sell Company X”, and “Call Me.” In one embodiment, the user can furtherspecify particular reply forms for individual senders. The auto-replyfeature will automatically display the appropriate form (or choice offorms) for the particular sender when the Send button 11 is pressedwhile the message is selected. If there is no user-specified reply formfor a particular sender, and the sender has not provided a reply form,the system will default to the generic template.

Advanced Call Control

The advanced call control feature increases the chances that a user willreach the person that he or she is trying to call with little additionaleffort on the part of the user. Often when a user makes a telephonecall, his or her goal is to speak to a specific person and not towhomever happens to answer the telephone. Accordingly, the presentinvention includes an advanced call control function by which a user cancreate a profile for a person who is called often. The profile is storedin a database, which may be stored within the telephone 1 or in a remotesystem. In the profile, the user can assign one or more telephonenumbers to a specific person and specify the times and/or dates wheneach phone number is appropriate. For example, the user might specifythat a given person should be called at his office telephone during theday on Monday through Friday, at his home telephone in the earlyevenings, and at his cellular telephone on the weekends. Accordingly,when the user dials out using one of these numbers (whether enteredmanually or using speed dial), the system will automatically referencethe entered telephone number against the profile (database) to determinewhether the number is “valid” (appropriate) in view of the current dayand/or time. If the phone number is determined to be currently valid,then the dial out sequence is executed normally. If another number isdetermined to be more appropriate based on the profile, the system willautomatically display a message, such as that shown in FIG. 7, promptingthe user to either choose an alternate number or confirm that theentered number should be used. If the alternate number is selected, thetelephone 1 dials out using the alternate number. If the user doesnothing in response to the prompt, the telephone completes the dial outsequence after a timeout period using the original number. Thus, theadvanced call control feature increases the chances that a user willreach the person that he or she is trying to call with little additionaleffort on the part of the user.

Third Party Information

As noted above, the user can access various types of third partyinformation provided from a remote transmission source. Third partyinformation is information received by the telephone from a remotesource over the wireless connection, which may include real-timeinformation. Third party information can be accessed from the “News andInfo” screen, an example of which is illustrated in FIG. 8. As noted,the user may be able to select from various topics, such as stock marketinformation, traffic and weather conditions, or current headlines. FIG.9 shows an example of a simple display of stock market information. Inone application, the system might be programmed to download onlyinformation relating to stocks that the user owns or stocks in which theuser is specifically interested.

Third party information can also be combined with information storedlocally in the telephone. For example, refer to FIG. 10, which shows ascreen displaying current information for a given stock, “Indigo Arts”,received from a remote source, displayed together with the number ofshares of the stock owned by the user, which is stored locally. Thesystem further automatically computes and displays the percent gain onthe user's current holdings of this stock, as shown.

Ticker-Tape Display

As noted above, the ticker-tape display 32 may be used to scroll varioustypes of information to the user, including third party information(e.g., traffic, headlines, weather, etc.) or information stored locallyin the telephone (e.g., e-mail and voicemail messages). For example,when the telephone is in the News and Info mode, the ticker-tape display32 can be used to display real-time information relating to varioustopics, such as stock prices in the example of FIG. 10.

Information scrolled in ticker-tape display 32 is automatically selectedbased on context, i.e., based on the information the user is currentlyviewing or the mode in which the telephone 1 is currently operating. Forexample, if the user has selected stocks from the News and Info menu,then stock market prices may be scrolled through the ticker-tape display32. If the user has selected “Traffic” from the News and Info menu, thencurrent traffic information can be scrolled. If the user has selectedMessages from the main menu, then summary information on the user's newmessages is scrolled.

Interactive Forms

Another feature of the present invention allows an e-mail transmissionto be automatically designed based upon context. For example, in oneembodiment if the user presses the Send button 11 while viewing stockmarket information, the system may automatically display an e-mail formaddressed to his or her stock broker. The specific content of the formcan be designed to suit the user's needs.

In addition, third party information can be automatically monitored forthe presence of previously-specified content, such as the price of aparticular stock rising or falling to a specified level. In response todetecting this previously-specified content, the system automaticallyprovides a notification to the user, such as an audible tone or adisplayed message. Further, the system can automatically display acustomized, ready-to-send e-mail message in response to detecting thisinformation. For example, in response to detecting the price of a stockhitting a specified level, the system may automatically display aprewritten e-mail message addressed to the stockbroker requesting apurchase of the stock.

Thus, a portable telephone having an intuitive graphical user interfacehas been described. Although the present invention has been describedwith reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evidentthat various modifications and changes may be made to these embodimentswithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings areto be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable telephone comprising: a transceiverfor transmitting and receiving data; a control; a display device; and aprocessor coupled to the transceiver, the control, and the displaydevice, wherein the processor is configured to enable the portabletelephone to send and receive electronic mail messages and voicemessages using the transceiver, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to cause a graphical user interface to be provided using thedisplay device, the graphical user interface allowing a user to accessstored electronic mail messages and voice messages displayedsimultaneously on the display device, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to receive a user input from the control selecting a messagedisplayed on the display device and, in response to the user input,automatically enter an electronic mail reply mode if the selectedmessage is an electronic mail message or a voice reply mode if theselected message is a voice message.
 2. A portable telephone accordingto claim 1, wherein the portable telephone is a cellular telephone ofthe hand-held variety.
 3. In a wireless telephone communication devicecapable of receiving and storing electronic mail messages and voicemessages, a method of allowing a user of the communication device toreply to a received message, the communication device including adisplay device, the method comprising: displaying an indication of astored message on the display device, wherein the stored message may beeither an electronic mail message or a voice message, the stored messagehaving a source identifier; receiving a user input selecting thereceived message; and in response to the user input, automaticallyentering either an electronic mail reply mode or a voice reply modebased on the source identifier, wherein the source identifier mayinclude Caller ID information if the message is a voice message, suchthat said automatically entering includes using the Caller IDinformation to identify the source identifier as a telephone number. 4.A method according to claim 3, wherein the source identifier comprises atelephone number if the message is a voice message, and wherein saidautomatically entering an appropriate one of a plurality of reply modesbased on the source identifier further comprises: receiving Caller IDinformation specifying the telephone number; and automaticallyinitiating a dial-out sequence using the Caller ID information inresponse to receiving the user input.
 5. A method of enabling a user ofa wireless telephone communication device to reply to a receivedmessage, the method comprising transmitting sequences of instructionsfrom a host processing system to the wireless telephone communicationdevice, the sequences of instructions including instructions which, whenexecuted on the wireless telephone communication device, cause thewireless telephone communication device to perform the method recited inclaim
 3. 6. A method implemented in a wireless communication device ofallowing a user of the wireless communication device to access bothvoice messages and electronic mail messages, the method comprising:receiving a plurality of voice messages and electronic mail messages;generating a graphical user interface for allowing the user to accessboth the voice messages and the electronic mail messages from a singlemailbox, including causing items representing both the electronic mailmessages and the voice messages to be displayed simultaneously on adisplay component of the wireless communication device, such that theuser can select the displayed items to access electronic mail messagesor voice messages from a single rendered display in response to the userinput; receiving a user input from a single control of the wirelesscommunication device, the user input selecting one of the itemsdisplayed on the display device representing a message, the messagehaving been received from a source; and in response to the user input,automatically selecting either an electronic mail reply mode or a voicereply mode, as appropriate, based on the source of the message.
 7. Awireless communication device comprising: a control for receiving userinputs; means for receiving a plurality of voice messages and electronicmail messages; means for generating a graphical user interface forallowing the user to access both the voice messages and the electronicmail messages from a single mailbox, wherein said means for generatingincludes means for causing items representing both the electronic mailmessages and the voice messages to be displayed simultaneously on adisplay component of the wireless communication device, such that theuser can select the displayed items to access electronic mail messagesor voice messages from a single rendered display; means for selectingone of the items displayed on the display device representing a messagein response to a user input received at the control, the message havingbeen received from a source; and means for automatically selectingeither an electronic mail reply mode or a voice reply mode, asappropriate, in response to the user input received at the control,based on the source of the message.
 8. A wireless communication devicecomprising: a control; a display device; and a processor programmed tocause the display device to display contents of a single mailbox of auser, the mailbox having displayed contents representing both storedelectronic mail messages and stored voice messages directed to the user,each stored electronic mail or voice message having a source identifier,the processor further programmed to cause the wireless communicationdevice to enter either an electronic mail reply mode or a voice replymode, as appropriate, based on the source identifier in response to auser input applied at the control selecting a message displayed in themailbox.
 9. A wireless communication device according to claim 8,wherein the source identifier comprises Caller ID information, andwherein the processor is further programmed to use the Caller IDinformation to identify the source identifier as a telephone number. 10.A wireless communication device according to claim 8, wherein the sourceidentifier comprises a telephone number, and wherein the processor isfurther programmed to receive Caller ID information specifying thetelephone number and to automatically initiate a dial-out sequence usingthe Caller ID information in response to receiving the user input.
 11. Awireless communication device according to claim 8, wherein theprocessor is further programmed to identify the selected message as anelectronic mail message and to automatically select and display on thedisplay device a reply form having predetermined, non-address contentappropriate for the sender of the selected message in response to theuser input.
 12. In a wireless telephone communication device capable ofreceiving and storing electronic mail messages and voice messages, amethod of allowing a user of the telephone communication device to replyto a received message, the telephone communication device including adisplay device, the method comprising the steps of: displaying anindication of a stored message on the display device, wherein the storedmessage may be an electronic mail message or a voice message, the storedmessage having a source identifier; receiving a user input selecting thereceived message; and in response to the user input, automaticallyentering either an electronic mail reply mode or a voice reply modebased on the source identifier, wherein said automatically enteringeither an electronic mail reply mode or a voice reply mode includesdetermining whether the source identifier includes Caller IDinformation; and if the source identifier includes caller IDinformation, using the Caller ID information to identify the sourceidentifier as a telephone number.
 13. A method according to claim 12,wherein the source identifier comprises a telephone number, and whereinthe step of automatically entering an appropriate one of a plurality ofreply modes based on the source identifier further comprises the stepof: receiving Caller ID information specifying the telephone number; andautomatically initiating a dial-out sequence using the Caller IDinformation in response to receiving the user input.
 14. In a wirelesstelephone communication device capable of receiving and storingelectronic mail messages and voice messages, a method of allowing a userof the communication device to reply to a received message, thecommunication device including a display device, the method comprising:displaying an indication of a stored message on the display device,wherein the stored message may be either an electronic mail message or avoice message, the stored message having a source identifierrepresenting a sender of the message; receiving a user input selectingthe received message; and in response to the user input, automaticallyentering either an electronic mail reply mode or a voice reply mode, asappropriate, based on the source identifier, including identifying thesource identifier as an electronic mail address if the message is anelectronic mail message; and automatically selecting and displaying onthe display a reply form for the electronic mail message, includingselecting a reply form having predetermined, non-address content basedon the sender of the electronic mail message.